The Department of Defense this year cancelled 82 security classification guides as a result of the ongoing Fundamental Classification Guidance Review, a focused effort to combat overclassification of national security information. The cancelled guides can no longer be used to authorize classification of DoD information. The Fundamental Classification Guidance Review, which must be performed by […]
The leading Chinese think tank known as CICIR, or China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, “is affiliated with China’s top intelligence agency,” according to a profile (pdf) prepared by the DNI Open Source Center (OSC), “although this fact is rarely acknowledged in PRC media.” The OSC report presents a detailed description of the structure, leadership […]
Recent moves by Russia to reform its military were assessed by the Congressional Research Service in a new report (pdf). “This report… provides basic information about the [Russian] military’s leadership and structure, the arms industry and efforts to modernize weaponry (including through foreign arms technology transfers), power projection efforts, and the military budget.” The CRS […]
FAS published a new Issue Brief, “A Nuclear-Free Mirage? Obstacles to President Obama’s Goal of a Nuclear Weapons Free World.” Dr. Robert Standish Norris, Senior Fellow for Nuclear Policy at FAS was interviewed by Charles Blair, Director of FAS’s Terrorism Analysis Project, about the obstacles to the implementation of the Obama administration’s Nuclear Posture Review (NPR). After twenty […]
The issue brief takes a deeper look at the nuclear policies of the Obama administration—polices that Dr. Norris terms “radical” with regard to their vision of a nuclear weapon free world.
Led by the United States, arms-exporting nations are competing ever more intensely to win lucrative sales contracts in a shrinking global marketplace, according to a new report (pdf) from the Congressional Research Service. “Worldwide weapons sales declined generally in 2010 in response to the constraints created by the tenuous state of the global economy,” the […]
The Brennan Center for Justice will sponsor a panel discussion October 5 at the National Press Club in Washington DC on overclassification and “Curbing Needless Secrecy” to accompany the release of a new report on the subject. Participants include former Rep. Christopher Shays, former ISOO director J. William Leonard, former NRO director and chair of […]
Updated below When the Central Intelligence Agency established a Center on Climate Change and National Security in 2009, it drew fierce opposition from congressional Republicans who disputed the need for an intelligence initiative on this topic. But now there is a different, and possibly better, reason to doubt the value of the Center: It has […]
Reports on secrecy-related topics from the Congressional Research Service that are newly updated (but otherwise not new) include these (all pdf). Criminal Prohibitions on the Publication of Classified Defense Information, September 8, 2011 Protection of Classified Information by Congress: Practices and Proposals, August 31, 2011 The State Secrets Privilege: Preventing the Disclosure of Sensitive National […]
The British Cold War stockpile was bigger than previously thought but will be the smallest of the five original nuclear weapons states by the mid-2020s. Click image for bigger version . By Hans M. Kristensen Britain’s disclosure last year of the size of its nuclear weapons stockpile shows, when combined with official information released […]
The number of persons who held security clearances for access to classified information last year exceeded 4.2 million — far more than previously estimated — according to a new intelligence community report to Congress (pdf). The report, which was required by the FY2010 intelligence authorization act, provides the first precise tally of clearances held by […]
On the occasion of its 50th anniversary, the National Reconnaissance Office declassified and released thousands of pages of historical records documenting the development and operation of its GAMBIT and HEXAGON satellite programs. At first glance, many of the documents appear to be interesting and substantial additions to the historical record on the subject. (The associated […]